


The Good Life

by AugustStories



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Brothers, Family, Fluff, Friendship, Glimpse into a possible future, Happy Ending, Post-Season/Series Finale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-25
Updated: 2020-06-25
Packaged: 2021-03-03 18:47:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24910303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AugustStories/pseuds/AugustStories
Summary: Three years after the big showdown, Dean drives to Texas to visit family.
Relationships: Adam Milligan & Dean Winchester, Adam Milligan/Original Female Character(s), Michael & Adam Milligan, Sam Winchester/Eileen Leahy (Mentioned)
Kudos: 21





	The Good Life

**Author's Note:**

> something random that came to mind yesterday while I was raking dried grass and soaking up the sun.

It was three years after Chuck and Amara had been wiped out of existence by a group of in parts rather reluctant allies that Dean found himself parking Baby at the roadside of a suburban town a few miles outside of Austin, Texas.

It was a mix between pleasure ride and worried duty that had prompted him to make the long drive from Lebanon, especially make it alone. Sam and Eileen were on a hunt in Ohio, Cas was visiting Claire and wanted to stop by Jody as well still,so Dean hadn't waited for him. He had spent the many hours it had taken to drive to this place thinking about the many differents things that could have been waiting for him.

All he had been given was an address.

Letters and numbers scribbled onto a piece of paper and left for him by an Archangel who had answered a prayered question without turning up in the flesh.

\--

Three years ago after Chuck and Amara had been defeated and Jack had forever left for Heaven to take over responsibility for the balance of cosmic power, Dean had only way too late realized that he hadn't shared more than a couple of words with his youngest brother in all the chaos.

Michael and Adam had returned when the fight had run into its final rounds and Dean had been relieved to note that it had been for their side. Michael's loyalty to his father had taken too much of a beating after finding out about his betrayal. But as sad as it was to say they had needed Michael and not Adam, they had needed an Archangel's power, knowledge and experience, and Michael only had in turn needed Adam.

Adam's strength, Adam's compassion, Adam's grounding bond with him.

Once the deed had been done, Michael had retreated, had needed time to mourn his father despite how bitter the betrayal had been, Dean could understand that very well. Adam though had immediately announced that he was going to leave as well, that as much as he didn't harbor hatred for them, he couldn't stay either. He wasn't a hunter and he would never become one, all he wanted now was find a life for himself in some other corner of the country.

It hurt.

Of course it did.

He was family and they had forgotten about him, they had chosen to forget because they had been so helpless where it concerned his situation.

Back then Dean had thought back to the last words Adam had said to him as he had left their first reunion.

'When do we ever get what we deserve.'

Adam would.

Adam could.

This time Adam could truly get what he deserved, a good life, a normal life, as normal as it could ever be with that history, with that stolen lifetime.

So he had stopped Sam's arguments, set a hand upon a tense Adam's shoulder and had smiled at him, "go, go and find that life for you. Step away from this before you can't anymore. You deserve it the most. If something ever happens, you know where to find us." Adam had nodded and he had left the bunker that evening in one of the cars from the garage, Dean had insisted upon it.

He would maybe never again act on it but Adam was a Winchester.

He was family.

But in their life it was maybe better to let even family go so they could find happiness.

\--

Over the years, as they slowly settled into a calmer life themselves where hunts no longer developed into cosmic scale threats or endangered the entire human population by making one mistake, they also sometimes got tidbits of information about Adam.

Cas, wings restored and strength healed, visited Jack then and now, kept it only to a minimum because no leadership or not, Dean's angel was still quite done with Heaven and that would maybe not change for a very long time still. Cas brought back information sometimes, that Michael had found a corner for himself in Heaven but had no desire to return to where he had once stood.

Heaven's Prince had been betrayed and it was a wound that had had time to fester, the universe's last Archangel would not become Heaven's fiercest warrior anymore. Instead Michael had apparently made it his duty to teach Jack still, to guide him and let him learn from the many mistakes Michael and his brothers had done in the past. Most of the time though, Michael was Earth bound.

And though Cas didn't say it explicitly for the first two years, Dean could very well imagine what it meant. Michael and Adam had spent a long long time down in the Cage together, it was a bond that went beyond something that could be understood probably.

"It's not just friendship," Sam had said one time deep in the night as they had returned from a hunt in Missouri, Eileen asleep on the backseat, "goes way beyond brotherhood as well. They're both one half of a whole. And if you ask me, I'm darn happy about it. Adam made the smart decision and stepped away from this life before it could suck him in, and still we will never have to worry about him. Whatever evil out there, Michael will protect him."

"Do you regret it?" Dean wondered then and got off the highway at the next exit, "that we were never able to step out of it?"

"No," Sam was quick to answer, a look thrown over his shoulder to where Eileen was curled up against the window, "I don't. This is who we are, Dean, and we have our chance of finding happiness now, too. Just different. We make the world a safer place, let Adam be the one who keeps the Winchester line going."

\--

One month later, Cas returned from another short trip to Heaven and set a newspaper cutout onto the map table where Dean had been sitting with his laptop.

It was a local Texas newspaper, that much Dean could tell, but Michael had taken great care to get rid of anything that could pinpoint a location more detailed than just the state.

The cutout consisted of only one thing.

A wedding announcement.

'Town of [] celebrates the wedding of the Mayor's daughter to local doctor's assistant Adam Winchester. The wedding took place on the 24th of June in St. Michael's chapel.'

"Seems like he hasn't let go of family completely," Cas said as he sat down and Dean smiled at him, "maybe in time he'll want contact as well again. Who knows, I've read somewhere that people sometimes let go of old grudges with family when they have children of their own."

"Do you reckon she knows? His wife?" Dean wanted to know from his best friend and Cas took a moment to think about it.

Michael had found another vessel, so much they knew, Adam was free to be himself again by himself.

"If he was smart about it, he came clean to her."

\--

So now he sat in Baby and looked over a white two story house with a large garden around it, the neighbourhood screamed suburban and higher middle class. He had even checked the address twice to be truly sure that he hadn't taken a wrong turn but the mailbox had solved that quite quickly upon arrival.

Winchester was painted on it in dark blue letters, the color sticking out largely among the white of the actual mailbox, the white picket fence and the light green of the hedge intersecting with it.

Everything screamed domesticity at first sight and Dean felt so relieved.

This was a place where people were happy.

As he glanced over the garden he caught sight of a woman who was raking cut grass on the meadow while one of those fancy robot mowers was working on its random ass circles on the other side. She was beautiful, blond hair pulled up into a high ponytail, yellow summer dress. Dean took a deep breath and got out of the car, he had fought with himself for hours over whether or not he would actually stop and approach or if it was better to just make a quick drive by.

His heart had won out in the end so there he was now, slowly walking around Baby and drinking in every detail he could find at the front of his brother's home. Some part of him, hidden behind guarded walls, had to think back many many years, was missing Lisa and Ben and the simplicity of that life, as short as it might have been.

Maybe once he was back in Lebanon it would be worth an idea to look into how they were doing these days.

He reached the little front gate and with the sun no longer standing right in his eyes, he could see inside the open garage and his lips ticked up into a smile upon spotting the car he had given Adam as a parting gift back then.

"Hello?" A voice pulled him from his thoughts and he looked back over to the woman who had stopped her work now, leaning on the rake, "can I help you with something, Sir?" Yeah, Dean had gotten old, thank you for noticing, defeating God put years upon your shoulders within only months.

"You might," Dean called back and told himself to loosen his stance, there wouldn't be a monster for miles, Michael would have made sure of that. "My name is Dean Winchester, I was wondering if I could talk to Adam."

The rake got dropped to the ground as the woman made some steps closer, a glance thrown towards the house, "Dean, you said?" She wondered and Dean nodded, upon coming closer he could see her blue eyes and bright happy smile. "Adam's brother then? Did something happen?" Her smile threatened to twitch into a frown so Dean hurried to reassure her.

"No, nothing happened. Quite on the contrary, my life has finally found a boring calm rhythm," Dean explained and looked over when the front door of the house was opened and a figure appeared in it whom he had seen briefly six months after Chuck and Amara had died. "And I was hoping that I could reconnect with family."

The woman whose first name Dean didn't know looked from him to Michael coming over and the first words that Adam's wife directed at the Archangel stopping at her side revealed easily the answer to the question over how much she knew about her husband.

"He's not possessed or something, right?"

Michael rolled his eyes but shook his head, inclining his head to Dean.

"Well, excuse me for asking," the woman snarked at Michael and then turned back to Dean, "sorry, my name is Juliana, I'm Adam's wife. I know about the whole hunting business, monster world, so no double meanings necessary. Adam is out back with our son, come right in, I'll bring you to him."

Son.

Their son.

They had a kid.

Three years and Adam was married and had a kid.

\--

He followed Juliana and Michael into the cozy house, unable to decide between looking around or watching the Archangel bicker with Adam's wife. The house was furnitered and decorated in light colors, it was warm and homely. There was a cat stretched out on the rug in front of the unlit fireplace in the living room, toys strewn about. A playpen in the corner, a baby carrier on the stairs leading to the first floor.

"Adam, darling?" Juliana called out when they had reached the other side of the house and Dean found himself following her through the glass door that led upon a spacious patio. "There you are," Juliana added with a grin when she stopped and looked to the left. Dean followed her line of sight and his heart did something weird when he saw his brother kneeling on the wooden floor of the patio.

He watched with a smile how Adam pulled on the blue string with a laugh, prompting the kitten in front of him to start pouncing and the baby to clumsily clap. The little boy couldn't be older than a couple of months, as little as Dean knew about babies, he was sure his gut couldn't be too far off there. Dressed in a red onesie and yellow socks, the little guy sure looked adorable.

"We have a visitor, darling."

Letting the striped kitten gain its price for a successful hunt, Adam dropped the string and looked around to them, freezing for a split second when he saw Dean but the moment passed within the blink of an eye again and he went back to looking so incredibly happy.

"Dean," he began and swept up his son with secure relaxed hands before getting up, "that's a surprise." Michael got the side eye but Adam didn't seem that angry over having had his location given away. "Did anything happen?"

"No," Dean gave him the same quick reassurance, "I just wanted to see you again. See with my own eyes that you were doing alright. We got some tidbit of information over the years." He didn't look at Michael but Adam got it anyway, elbowing his angel friend hard in the side.

"You snitched to their angel, didn't you?"

"You never explicitly told me not to," Michael defended himself and Adam rolled his eyes just like Michael had before, but he also kept on smiling and handed his son to Juliana so he could offer his hand to Dean.

"Regardless of how surprising it is, it is good to see you again, Dean. Sam is doing good?" Adam wanted to know and after shaking his hand, he gestured for Dean to sit down at the seating area only a few steps away.

They all sat down, Adam and Dean on one side of the table, Michael and Juliana on the other, that bouncing baby boy looking around with curious eyes, little pudgy hands playing with the hand that Michael had maybe even strategically placed in reach.

"Sam is doing great. Engaged actually, Eileen proposed last month because he couldn't get up the courage, wanted it to be perfect. She got fed up and did it herself," Dean told them with a laugh because he could still laugh himself silly over the whole thing. "They got a dog, small thing. Always gets into trouble or causes trouble and he's always chewing on something." Dean tried to keep the grin at bay as he looked over to Michael, "Sam named him Gabe, he thinks that Gabriel would have found it hilarious."

"He surely would have."

"Keeps me entertained though when Cas is up in Heaven. I'm not going out much anymore, Sam has Eileen now, the younger generation is taking over," Dean painted them the picture and had to smile over it, too, he was happy. "I find cases, put people on them, help over the phone if anyone needs some advice. It's good. It's a good life."

"Yeah," Adam agreed and he softened so much when he looked over to Juliana and his son, "we got that, too. A good life. Let me introduce you to the youngest Winchester. That," Adam said and Juliana stroked a hand over the blond curls of her son, "is your nephew Logan. Logan Michael Winchester. And now let me get us something to drink, then we can catch up."

\--

Not every story ends in a happy ever after.

Dean had seen too many friends die long before they could achieve theirs.

Sam and him had long ago stopped believing that their lives could ever in any way reach some kind of peace, let alone a happy ending.

He had never been so happy to be so wrong.

And to be able to say: in the end, all was well.


End file.
